Kylo Ren's Mistress
by triojediknights
Summary: I absolutely love Reylo so much, and really hope it culminates into them being a couple in Episode IX. Here is a story I wrote detailing Rey and Ben's love. Here is the first chapter! I will be updating throughout the week, so stay tuned. And REVIEW, please!
1. Chapter 1: Paradise Untouched By Man

**Chapter 1: Paradise Untouched by Man**

The firelight flickered off Rey's face. Its warmth did little to counter the howling of the wind and rain just outside the crude hut, instead merely reflecting her despondency.

"I thought I'd find answers here. I was wrong," she spoke aloud. "I've never felt so alone."

Across from her - there and yet not there all at once - was the last person she should be expressing her feelings to, and yet at the same time, he was the only person in the entire galaxy who could possibly understand.

"You're not alone," Kylo Ren - born Ben Solo - insisted.

Rey's gaze flickered up to meet his. "Neither are you." And cautiously, but still with a flicker of hope, she held out her hand to him. Rey peered at him, almost shyly, willing him to accept the peace offering she was extending to him. "It isn't too late."

Slowly, Ben pulled off the black glove, so that his bare hand could reach back. His fingertips brushed hers, and the moment of contact sent jolts of electricity up Rey's nerves, so that she was forced to intake a sudden breath.

Then, with oh so much trepidation, Ben's hand reached up to caress Rey's face, cradle her cheek. Rey's eyes fluttered shut at his touch, her face now slack with contentment and peace, and she dared to turn her head ever so slightly so as to plant her lips into Ben's palm.

Jedi wannabe and Sith pretender froze in that moment, Rey's motion unusually intimate. Did they dare?

They did, as Ben oh so tentatively leaned forward. Rey could feel his terror - terror at being rejected, terror at not knowing love, asking for her love and wondering...

Even though his mind was in turmoil, when his lips sealed over hers, they were sure and strong, from top to bottom.

Rey's eyes slid shut in bliss and she kissed him back with just as much firm passion, even as she herself was trying to be brave. She wanted him desperately to know that she would not abandon him.

The kiss quickly escalated. Ben's hands now cocooned Rey's face, his digits thrumming down her jawline and neck, brushing her pulse point. Rey's fingers fisted themselves in Ben's mane of midnight black locks - something she had always wanted to do, his hair had always seemed so luscious to her, just begging to have fingers run through each and every strand.

Ben's hands splayed down Rey's back, wandering lower and lower and he pulled her closer, taking her fully in his arms. Throwing her arms about his neck, Rey dared to moan - a scandalous sound, even to her own ears, and she didn't care. She didn't care because she never wanted to leave this safest of embraces ever, ever again...

Winding their limbs tighter still about each other, both Rey and Ben quickly lost their balance and fell off the stone bench. Clasping each other close, they rolled about in each other's embrace; Rey was not sure how they managed to avoid the flames of the fire, so engrossed were they in their kissing. Finally, the movement halted so that Rey was flat on her back on the stone and Ben was straddling her waist. She had lost the threadbare blanket that had been covering her waifish frame before Ben kissed her, and now she was only clad in her scavenger clothes, still damp from when she had dived into the pool beneath the island.

And now, she shocked herself when she realized she wanted Ben to remove every stitch of clothing she still had on. Which he now began to do.

Ben's fingers trembled down Rey's thighs, petting her through her simple pants, while he simultaneously mouthed along her neck. Rey gasped in amazement at the heat she felt, and she spread her legs without even thinking about it. She had no clue, no clue what she was doing, or how it should be done, yet her body seemed to know, as if she had been engaging in this most sacred, this most intimate act, her entire life. A dampness of a very different kind seemed to plummet down from deep in her stomach, down to her very core. Rey should have cursed herself for making herself so damp all over again, but once again, there was something about the way Ben was physically worshipping her that made her throw all her characteristic caution to the wind.

She could feel Ben undo the flimsy straps of her pants, feel him push them down her legs, all the way down to her ankles. Rey had to lift her thighs, raise them off the cool stone, to help him get them all the way down. A rush of cool air, blown in from the storm outside, tickled her exposed folds... which Rey was stunned to find were sopping, _dripping_ wet.

And then, suddenly, before she was even really ready, even though she was aching for something she could not yet place a name to - _ohhhh_...

His mouth, his _lips_ were on her... her... oh _Force_... The sensation was so deliriously wonderful, tears sprung to her eyes and Rey had to choke back a sob.

She covered it well, but not enough for Ben not to hear it and pick up on it. His mouth, suckling on the nub of her pussy, paused and he raised his head from between her legs. Rey whined, moaned forlornly, at the sudden lack of contact.

"Do you not want this?" Ben asked, and she could feel his concern, his gentlemanly chivalry, radiating through the Force. "I'll stop..."

"No... no... it's not that..." Rey did not even try to hide the sob in her voice this time, her body keening into his face, desperate to have his mouth on her again.

Ben seemed to sense why she was suddenly emotional, and it made his heart break just a little. "You've never been loved this way, have you?"

Rey bit her lip, her eyes stinging with tears, as she shook her head. How was it that this man could give voice to her thoughts even better than she herself could? Know her deepest pains? "Love me... _please_..." she whimpered.

Ben did as she commanded, swallowing her nub whole and nursing on it for a few moments more, before he then shifted so that he now straddled Rey once more, nestling his body in between her legs. With the tenderest of care, he pushed, inch by inch, into her undefiled womanhood. Let her know what it was to feel love in the most physical, carnal sense.

Rey yelped airily, upon his penis unifying with her vagina, and to his eternal credit, Ben paused instantly. He kissed her deeply, in the hopes that it might help her through the initial pain, if only a little bit. Then, Ben slid out. Then pushed back in, even more softly than the first time.

Rey matched him, thrust for thrust, doing her best to synchronize her motions with his even if she still had very little idea what she was doing. Was she even doing it right? She agonized to think that she was not pleasing him the same way that he was pleasing her. Her hips snapped against his pelvis, sharper and sharper with each iteration and gradually, pain was replaced by a deep, all-encompassing pleasure that tickled Rey down to the tips of her toes.

"Uh... Uh... OHHHH! OHHH! Oh my goodness..." Her moans were pathetic and wanting and desperate but Ben did not seem to mind. On the contrary, from the flushed look on his face, he must have thought Rey's cries were the sexiest sound he had ever heard.

At last, with a grunt, Rey felt Ben collapse against her, a sticky liquid trickle into her pussy. Still the pleasure and pressure built and built and a moment later, Rey could not hold it at bay anymore, and with a whimper, her juices exploded out of her, soaking Ben's dick from where it was still sunken hilt-deep inside of her.

Cupping his face in her hands, Rey beamed, her face rosy pink, her lips rouged and flushed and plump. She kissed him deeply, ravenously. Clasping him close, she rolled them both over so that she was now scandalously mounting him. Daintily, she groped for the discarded blanket, and finding it, she draped it over both of their naked bodies. All other clothing had been discarded during the frantic, carnal love-making after Ben had entered her. Rey wriggled against Ben, teasingly swiveling her hips against his pelvis. Ben answered by splaying his giant hands across her bare shoulder blades, pulling her closer. The couple lovingly kissed once again.

Just then, the peace was shattered as Luke Skywalker entered the tent, alarmed to find his apprentice wrapped in the arms of his nephew. "STOP!"


	2. Chapter 2: Stuck Between Floors

**Chapter 2: Stuck Between Floors**

All that could be heard was the whoosh of the elevator, as Rey was now escorted by Ben up the bowels of the First Order flagship the _Supremacy_ , to stand before Supreme Leader Snoke. This time, she was not bound in his embrace, but rather, in a pair of Force-proof, ion cuffs.

"You don't have to do this," she echoed into the silent elevator, still staring at the numbers of the floors as they rapidly ascended. When no response came forthwith, she turned her head halfway, to throw her voice back over her shoulder. "I feel the conflict within you; it's tearing you apart."

His gaze did not shift to indicate that he had even heard her, much less was moved. At least until: "Ben..."

The sound of his real name on her lips made him acknowledge her at last. She could see in his eyes how much the formation of that sound moved him. So their night together _did_ mean something to him! He was in there somewhere; she knew it! Rey now faced him fully, her voice growing more earnest. "When we touched hands I saw your future - just the shape of it, but solid and clear! You will not bow before Snoke," and she approached to stand directly before him. Her eyes flitted from his own, down to his lips, and back again. "You'll turn," she whispered. "I'll help you. I saw it."

Ben could tell she was deeply aroused, and it overwhelmed him. He was in love with her, but that meant not nearly as much as it did to know that she cared for him. Him!

And yet here he was taking her to his Master, a leader whom he had known for years was a deeply dangerous man. What Snoke would do to Rey once he had her in his grip... he shuddered to think of it.

Ironically, that was the thought that made Ben do what he did next.

His fist whipped out, jamming past Rey's head to bash in the emergency stop button. The suddenness of the motion, and the momentary obscurity of the fist's intended target, made Rey yelp. But next second, Ben closed his mind off completely from the Force, hiding his deepest thoughts and desires from the master waiting just a few floors above. They had only a little bit of time before anyone or anything was sent to investigate... so they had to make it count.

Yanking Rey into his arms, Ben cast away the cuffs and crushed his lips to hers, a hand at her neck to keep her firmly in place. Her body was flush against his, and his kiss made her eyes go wide with shock. But the next moment, it was as though they had never left each other's embrace, that magical night in the hut. Rey's hands sank into Ben's hair, the way that he just fucking _loved_ , and her eyes closed and she moaned in triumph. The way in which her vocal cords hummed, she sounded almost giddy. "Hmmm... Ben..."

The horny sound of his name stirred Ben to action like nothing else. His palms dug almost painfully into the fleshy curve of her ass. In perfect harmony, Rey gallingly raised her leg to his waist, hooking it about his torso. Picking her up thusly, Ben let Rey leap the rest of the way into his arms, folding her legs about his waist. Staggering under the ability to carry her, he spun them both around so that Rey was slammed (a little to harshly for his liking, and he cursed himself for it) into the glass paneling of the elevator wall.

A beep and a crackle from somewhere above them was then heard, but Ben and Rey did not even separate their lips, preferring instead to kiss furiously, make out, even as the automated voice of a droid asked: "Elevator 1-B has been stopped unexpectedly. Do you need any assistance?" Thank goodness the connection was one-way, so that the droid could not hear the lovers only groan and pant in response as their mouths dug into each other.

Ben began to undulate his body, hump his center, against Rey's pelvis, so that she could feel his painfully stiff erection, straining to break free.

"Mmm! Mmmm!" Rey squealed sharply, with every brush of Ben's organ against her most sacred of places, now flooded with her arousal. Plucking one hand out of his hair, she swooped it down to make quick work of her pants, shimmying out of them so that they fell to her ankles. Ben's pants quickly followed thanks to her nimble fingers. She couldn't get the damn clothes off fast enough, so it was with great relief that she felt that familiar, engorged member slam into her womanhood all over again.

"Uhhhh... UHHHHHH! UHHHHHH! Maker! Ben... please... Yes!" Rey and Ben undulated, rocked against each other furiously, as they fucked faster and faster and faster. Gone was the gentle, awkward experimentation when they made love in the hut. This was animalistic, pure, unadulterated fucking. After all, they had a severe lack of time, and since time was precious, there was little left to do but come together while they still could. Reminded of this compromised position, Ben clapped a hand over Rey's mouth as his lips danced down her jawline, neck, then collarbone. Each loving nip made Rey let out a muffled squeal. "Hmmm-mmmm!"

"Quiet, my precious darling. They'll hear you," Ben hissed. In truth, he did not know this for certain, but he had experience with what Rey sounded like when he fucked her. She could be loud, and back in the hut he had even feared that Skywalker might walk in on them in the very act, doing the dirty deed, with Rey wailing beneath him. He had been half-right then, so... best to not take any more chances than they already were.

Ben was the only one who finished, but Rey did not mind. The clock was running down, their moments of peace disappearing like sand through an hourglass or a sieve. Hurriedly redressing, she accepted the gentle kiss Ben disposed upon her lips. A kiss of apology, almost - as he clearly now had no desire to hand her over to his superiors. Yet it was out of his hands. Together, Rey and her beloved Ben stepped out of the elevator, carefully composed and put together and not at all disheveled, so that none would suspect that the elevator malfunction was absolutely no accident, that nothing was wrong.

That nothing was amiss as they both made to stand before Supreme Leader Snoke.


	3. Chapter 3: Straddle on the Throne

**Chapter 3: Straddle on the Throne**

Shards of red plating and casing lay in a heap on the floor, as the last Praetorian Guard, pierced through the eye by a lightsaber's blade, fell away from Ben, to join his dismembered comrades. Ben straightened himself, breathing hard as he struggled to regain control of his air intake. He had eyes only for the fiery, brave, sexy young woman across the utterly destroyed throne room. She was breathing hard, her cute little breasts heaving. He had never been so aroused in his life. And he couldn't take it anymore.

Relief, desire, protectiveness and a thousand other emotions gushed through him and he barely sensed his feet carrying him across the floor as he gathered Rey back into his arms once again, as his lips descended upon hers in a fiery kiss - their third shared kiss in... had it been a day? Less than a day? Millennium? Ben didn't know, and Ben didn't care, for unklike in the elevator, time was now their friend. They had all the time in the world. The Supreme Leader, that monster Snoke who had _dared_ to lay a hand on his mistress, his love, was dead. As was his entire apparatus. He and Rey had taken over the entire First Order. And Ben closed his eyes in total victory, letting the burning flakes from the ceiling, the scraping screech of torn-asunder metal, fall away as he clutched Rey ever closer and deepened the kiss that she was eagerly returning. They had all the time in the world.

Suddenly, Rey became quite assertive, and Ben found that he had never been more in love with her than he was now, as with a wave of her hand, she flung the dismembered corpse of Snoke off its throne and pushed Ben back into the obsidian headrest, boldly straddling his hips. She opened her mouth to him, their tongues battled for dominance, as their bodies now wriggled against one another in that clear sign that they had to make love yet again right fucking _now_. Clothes were torn, ripped in half, yanked from their bodies so hard that skin was nearly taken with it in some cases, the garments flung every which way.

"Ben... Mmmmm..." Rey moaned as he kissed her with the desperation of a man dying of thirst. "I need you. Inside me. _Immediately_." The growl in her voice - a lingering side effect of her battle-fueled rage - was apparent, and Ben dared not refuse her. So he swiftly, and without any pretense for gentleness, impaled his member into her tight, dripping wet...

"I love how ready you are for me, as I fuck your tight little pussy," Ben snarled with a needed breath in between their heated kisses, his eyes dark and besotted with arousal. "My naughty little scavenger..."

"Oh, Ben!" Rey mewled, throwing her head back so Ben could bite, nuzzle, mouth down her neck, her eyes closed in total ecstasy. He eventually worked his way down to her bare, bouncing breasts. Taking one nipple into his mouth so that it pebbled into a hardened, stub of a mountain, Ben feasted, suckled on it with the earnestness of a babe... A babe, baby, that he wished, in his deepest heart of hearts, to see nurse at Rey's breast one day. The breast of its mother... the mother of _his_ child...

He now licked at the underside of her breast, slobbering her there. "I love you, Rey," he gasped. "I want to marry you... to stay by your side..."

"Uhhh... uhhhh... Oh Maker please... OHHHHH! YES! BEN!" Rey writhed and wailed as Ben fucked her harder and harder until at last, with two concurrent cries, in perfect sync just as they were in battle, joined through their Force Bond just as much as they had ever been, Rey and Ben both roaringly orgasmed at the same time.

Rey now rose off of Ben's lap and prompted him off the throne, making him stand. Dropping to her knees (noting how this was the only context in which she would submit before him), she leaned forward and took him in her mouth. In fact, she nearly swallowed him whole, sliding her tongue up and down his long shaft. She licked down to the base of his balls and back up to the tip of his penis lovingly. Her jaw muscles became sore, yet she continued her work, even through Ben's fingers were weaving through her chestnut hair, right down to her scalp, as he held her skull in place, frantically humping and canting into her face until... he released himself and all his juices into her throat. Rey greedily swallowed every last drop, before extracting herself from his length with a final, greedy lick.

One last deep kiss. A frantic search for clothes and a flurry of attempts to put them all on, even the ones that had been clearly ripped in their haste to make love, some atrociously so, ripped beyond repair.

Only now did either of them realize that they did _not_ , in fact, have all the time in the world. Rey now ran to the window, her face still permanently flushed. "The fleet!" and she pointed out the window at the space battle going on around the _Supremacy_. "We must tell them to stop firing!" Ben didn't move. She turned, gazing at him, confused. "Ben...?"

Ben didn't answer, as he circled the split body of Snoke, pieces of corpse flung somewhat far afield, as if they were merely pieces of trash. He breathed heavily, with shaken relief, at the realization once again that he was free. Had shaken off at least some of the chains that bound him. Had surpassed his grandfather...

"It's time to let old things die. Snoke. Skywalker. The Sith. The Jedi. The Rebels. Let it all die." He faced Rey at last and approached her, his eyes pleading and earnest, breathless with anticipation and also sobering grimness. He knew what he had to do next... and he hoped she did too... "Rey..." He held out a gloved hand to her. "I want you to join me."

Rey stared at him, speechless, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. She was crying... why was she crying?... "We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy..."

"Don't do this, Ben," her voice soft as she choked on her tears, shaking her head. "Please don't go this way."

"No, you're still... holding on! LET GO!" Ben commanded, letting some frustration bubble to the surface. And he played one last card. "Do you want to know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known?"

She paused, caught off guard, so Ben pressed the advantage. He moved closer. "You've just hidden it away. You know the truth... Say it. Say it," he goaded, but not maliciously. No, gently, encouraging her to make the leap on her own.

"They were nobody," Rey finally whimpered.

"They were filthy junk traders. Sold you off for drinking money. They're dead, in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert. You have no place in this story. You come from nothing. You're nothing."

He could sense the way his words stung her, and quickly tried to amend his statement, walk back a hand he may have overplayed just a bit too much. "But not to me."

Her eyes snapped back to him, surprised and... touched, perhaps?

"Join me," and he extended his gloved hand to her once more. Rey did not move, the tableau hanging in the air like the thick smoke still disappearing from the finished battle around them. " _Please_ ," Ben whispered, begged, tears beginning to cloud his voice now, as well.

For a moment - for the briefest instant - he thought he might succeed, as Rey's hand tentatively reached out, her fingers inches from his, and...

Her fingers splayed wide. A fake-out. He should have seen it coming, and only just in time threw the Force forward desperately, to keep the Skywalker saber from flying into her waiting palm. Yet the blade did not snap back into his own hand, either. It instead stayed, suspended in time and space, jiggling and quaking in the air between them, as he and Rey each began to put more energy into their efforts to make it yield to a master, _any_ master. One of the two. The wind soon whistled around them in a frantic whirpool, a hurricane slowly whipping up as a result of the lightsaber's refusal to choose, refusal to bend.

So it broke. There was a flash of light so bright that neither Ben nor Rey could catch a glimpse of the famous weapon being ripped asunder and the ripple of an air pulse threw them to opposite ends of the throne room. Threw them apart.

Little did either of the star-crossed lovers know it then, but the saber's indecision had just thrown them apart for a long time.


	4. Chapter 4: Whose Child?

**Chapter 4: Whose Child?**

Rey stood in the shower in her private chambers on the Resistance base of Tatooine, letting the water droplets cascade down her bare skin. Each drop of water mixed in with her tears now falling onto the dimly-lit tiles of the shower, so that heated, filtered water was indistinguishable from salt.

It had been several weeks since Rey had awoken in the destroyed throne room, awoken to find her true love still unconscious but thankfully alive. Pressing a tear-stained kiss to his forehead, then another to his lips, she had fled from him off the _Supremacy_ , resigned to the fact that he was to be her lost love. That the life she had wished to build with him would never come to pass. That Ben was to be nothing but a wish denied, a path closed off to her, by both her stubborn pride... and his. Their inability to come together in ideology in the same way that they came together when they made sweet love.

Only... that was _not_ all Ben was to be to her.

It had started with runs to the toilet at all hours of the day, to throw up. Even if she had just finished eating. Rey could hold nothing down. The sensation seemed terribly unlike her - growing up malnourished as she had on Jakku, Rey could never afford to be picky about her diet, willing herself to force down whatever food was placed before her, no matter how revolting, how disagreeable, the taste. The sudden change in appetite befuddled her, and was - for a time - left unexplained.

Until she had overheard some women talking about similar feelings, and the suggestion that they might take a pregnancy test. So, Rey had scavenged and swiped a test from the med ward, and retreated back to her room to take it.

When the test turned positive, glowed in color, she had collapsed to the floor with a wail, tears splashing down her front. The only thing she could think to do was to stagger into the shower, hiccuping so much that she nearly swallowed a mouthful of the initial shower spray as it blasted onto her.

When had a child been conceived? Had it been in the hut (her first time with a man)? The elevator? ... he had been the only one to reach completion, not her... The throne room - a new life squirmed into being so soon after nine other lives had been so brutally extinguished? Rey did not know, could not pinpoint exactly. But perhaps it didn't matter. Regardless, she was to be... _become_... a mother in a matter of months. The mother of the Supreme Leader's baby. A new idol for her adoration, bestowed upon her by her only love. Her only love sprung from what should have been her only hate.

Stepping out of the shower, almost forgetting to turn the water off, Rey redressed herself in simple nightclothes. Even though it was the middle of the day. She was too drained. The only thing left to do was to go to bed and pray to the Maker that this was all just a bad dream.

"I sense a new disturbance in the Force. No... a _presence_..."

Rey jumped with fright as she realized she wasn't alone. Her heart rate quickened, even alighted, at the deep voice. Was it... _him_? The man she wanted still to be with and yet could not be? Ben?

No. The voice was older. And as she watched, an ethereal, blue figure flickered into being before her. He was wearing the Jedi robes in which he had died. But his beard was not as full, scruffy and unkempt as she had remembered it being when he was alive. And contrary to all the moments Rey had spent with him, he now smiled. Almost beamed. Tender. His eyes flickered with amusement, and perhaps even... pride?

"You're carrying a bit high," the Force Ghost of Luke Skywalker informed her.

Rey blinked at him, confused by the observation. "What?"

"High. Boys tend to sit lower. At least, Ben did, when Leia was pregnant with him. I remember how it used to leave her in such discomfort."

For the first time since finding out such earth-shattering news, Rey found her face turn up into a smile. A smile at the realization that her womb was laden with a girl. That her belly was round with a new Rey of light. Would the infant look like Ben, or more like her? She didn't know, but she preferred the former. Wait... oh Maker... she was _pregnant_ with a baby girl! What would Ben say? Would he even want the little thing? Meanwhile, Luke's head cocked to one side, studying her as he clearly sensed her tempestuous thoughts.

"What troubles, girl?"

"None, Uncle." Addressing him thusly seemed almost instinctive. Luke blinked in surprise, but then his surprise deflated into a smile, and through the Force, Rey felt her former Master's approval. And then he guessed:

"You wish to be married to him."

His perceptiveness made Rey flush scarlet, and she smiled like a smitten schoolgirl. "It feels like I already am. Does that make any sense?" Luke nodded quite seriously, earnestly urging for her to continue. "You found us... together. We... share this Bond. And now... this child. I feel like to be his wife is only natural. As far as I'm concerned, I married him that night in the hut." Her cheeks flooded rosy pink again, mortified as she remembered how the Jedi Master had looked upon finding her and Ben, naked as babies, naked as the baby she now cocooned inside of her.

But unlike his reaction then to such a scandalous sight, Luke now only grinned crinkly, warmly, kindly at her. Rey felt no judgement from him, only compassion, and it warmed her heart. Even if it was more than she deserved: after all, it was she who had been tempted by the darkness. _And you didn't even try to stop it..._ She recalled Luke's words of disappointment as they stood over the island's Force pit. And when Luke had discovered her sleeping with his nephew... he must have viewed _that_ as the ultimate betrayal, that she would turn to the dark side and there was no hope for her. Who could blame him if he decided to always hold that against her? Yet Rey sensed from her former Master, along with his compassion, an aura of forgiveness. Acceptance. The past was in the past. The past was dead, and it deserved to die. It _should_ be allowed to die, as her Ben had once said. What's done is done.

"You're right," Luke concurred with her thoughts. "What's done is done. The Force moves ever forward. The Force always has a plan, a destiny. And you cannot stop yours any more than you can stop this planet's twin suns from setting, my expecting, young apprentice. All you can do is trust in your destiny, and that it will not lead you astray." Unexpectedly, a soothing chill passed over Rey's skin as Luke pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She felt deep, familial love emanating from his being. "Rest now, my niece. Nest, and prepare for this new life. It will be loved, I promise." And before Rey could express how touched she was that he had called her his niece, Luke Skywalker faded away on the air.

* * *

For the first several months, Rey managed to keep her pregnancy a secret from the rest of the Resistance. It really was not that hard. For at least the first trimester, she managed to cover up her gradually expanding baby bump, and her ballooning breasts now laden with a mother's milk, with a loose-fitting blouse and a sweater over top. Of course, the latter fashion choice sent several confused looks her way, given that the Resistance was hiding away on a sister desert planet of Jakku, but Rey explained that she found the indoors cold.

Finally, however, even this explanation outlived its usefulness. Especially one day, when Commader Poe Dameron insisted on holding a strategy meeting just outside the base's doors. "We could all use the fresh air," he pointed out, when more than a few soldiers complained. For her part, Rey had to admire how he managed to say such a thing with a straight face, as the only air on this rock was clustered with sand particles. She never tried to breathe in too much of it, for fear that it might be a danger to the baby.

Unfortunately, the choice now was to either stand outside and breathe in dust particles in her sweater, or stay inside and freeze and miss the meeting and look like she, the Last Jedi, was not committed to the cause. Before Poe began, he looked right at Rey and entreated:

"Rey, for heaven's sake, this isn't Hoth! Take that sweater off, why don't you? You'll burn yourself alive!" The rest of the Resistance looked at her expectantly. There was nowhere to run now. Her commanding officer had just given her an order - not a firm order, but an order nonetheless. Rey daren't refuse to follow it. So with shaking hands, she pulled the sweater over her head, to reveal how even the loose-fitting blouse was no longer able to hide the fact that...

"She's... she's pregnant," Lieutenant Connix, whispered, a shocked hand to her mouth.

A collective gasp and hushed murmurs rippled through the crowd of Resistance fighters, and Poe had to push through some of those who were now rapidly congealing around the impregnated Jedi to get a better look.

For a long moment, Rey could not read the Commander's expression. He seemed utterly perplexed, shocked, stricken. All of these emotions chased themselves around and around his face.

And then... the indecision of his expression made a firm choice, as Poe chose to convey his feelings on the matter with angered displeasure. He suddenly whipped out a blaster, eliciting a shriek from the crowd, and prompting Rey to flick a hand just a fraction to the lightsaber at her belt. He wouldn't _dare_ to open fire on an innocent, still-developing baby... Yet Poe did not pull the trigger.

"Whose child?" His voice was murderous, like the winter wind, snarling with the tightness of a wolf's bared teeth.

There was a long... pregnant silence. Rey's eyes were filled with terror. Had he directed the question to her? Or was it a general inquiry? Either way, only she could be expected to give a firm answer. But what was she to say? That their cause's greatest sworn enemy had filled her womb with his demon seed? That she was carrying the fetus of the opposition? Could she confess to an act of the greatest treason, and thus betray her lost love, the father of their unborn child?

She didn't have the time nor the chance. For suddenly, Finn stepped forward from the crowd, the unrelenting Tatooine suns sparkling their light on his dark skin. "Mine, Poe," he murmured.

He sounded convincingly contrite, and Rey had to quickly morph the shocked expression she now sent her dear friend's way into something neutrally passive. It had to be a crime, to lie to one's commanding officer and comrades-in-arms... wasn't it?

But Finn did not back down from his story, and nobody else seemed to question it, or wonder if it rang of bullshit as much as it really did. Poe's face had turned a chilling purple and he raised his blaster, cocking it threateningly, and taking deadly aim. The Adam's apple on Finn's throat bobbled with the force of his gulp, but this was all that gave away his terror, as his expression was still blank and brave. The ex-Stormtrooper unbuttoned his shirt partway, revealing part of his chest, directly over his heart.

"Strike, Commander. Strike true."

Rey looked from one man to the other, horrified. Was this the policy for impregnating someone in a military setting? She struggled to find voice with which to speak, but no sound came out.

But Poe did not strike, as Finn goaded him to. At last, he stowed his blaster, prompting a unified sigh of relief from everyone present. Then, he barked into the silence:

"Anyone on this base who engages in sexual relations... for the love of the galaxy, _please_ \- _please_ use birth control!" He cleared his throat awkwardly after this rather unconventional directive, weakly getting out, "Uh... meeting adjourned."

The crowd broke away, returning to their respective duties. Without thinking, Rey launched herself at Finn. Taking his hand, she practically dragged him back into the base, dragged him into a darkened corner of one corridor. And then she was suddenly kissing him, again and again, as if she could not stop: on his cheeks, on his neck, on his forehead, on his mouth, on his eyelids, on his mouth once more. All the while, tears mixed in with her kisses, falling on his upturned face. "Oh... Oh!" she sobbed, too emotionally wrecked and eternally grateful to know what else to say.

"Rey..." Finn placated her gently, not moving to return her affections, even as she draped her arms about his neck. "Rey... don't..."

"Thank you!" Rey got out in a hushed whisper. "Thank you, thank you! I..."

"Rey:" Finn took her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake, to make her stop worshipping him with her kisses. "I don't know who the real father is. And since you were reticent to bring it up, I am not even going to ask. But... I have a feeling that whoever he is, he is out of the picture or not in a position to _be_ a father." His eyes searched her face in a big-brotherly way. "Am I right?"

Whimpering, Rey nodded through her tear-filled eyes.

"Then, _I_ will help you raise the baby. I will try and be its father... if you'll have me." Finn's eyes flittered bashfully away from her gaze, and Rey could sense him wondering if it was his place to make such a sacrifice.

Overwhelmed with love for her first and dearest friend, and still terribly despondent over losing Ben, a deeply touched Rey launched herself at Finn, kissing him again, everywhere she could reach. Finn still did not move to kiss her back, preferring instead to hold her quietly, as she came apart in his arms, resting his head on hers as she nuzzled her face into his chest like a scared child.


	5. Chapter 5: I Must Remain Faithful

**Chapter 5: I Must Remain Faithful**

It was a quiet morning in Rey's chambers. She had decided to spend the day in bed, after experiencing severe stomach cramps the night before. When Finn had poked his head in to check on her on his way to breakfast, as he had taken to doing most every morning and then night since he had learned she was pregnant, she had shooed him away, insisting that she was fine.

Now she was sitting up in bed and beaming down at her blanket-covered stomach, caressing it and the baby within. How strange - only a few months, and she had already learned to love the child. Despite the circumstances in which it was conceived. Despite how it was likely destined to grow up never knowing its father.

" _You are like starlight..._ " Rey sang cooingly to her bump. " _You are like sweet rain..._ "

She was so focused on the child just inside of her, that she forgot that the door was open, did not sense the new presence steal softly past the entryway until he spoke:

"You're glowing."

Rey jumped slightly, clutching a hand to her heart. "You startled me!" she laughed, as she beheld Poe Dameron gazing down at her with a beaming smile.

"I'm sorry!" Poe held up his hands in playful surrender. "I guess I'll be saying that a lot from now on..." The Commander sheepishly rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. "I'm sorry for how I reacted to finding out you're..." his voice trailed off. "And I'm sorry I made you reveal that secret before you were ready."

Rey smiled softly, finding his discomfort actually quite cute. "Apology accepted, Commander."

Poe now circled the bed and sat on the edge of it. "Can I get you anything? Anything at all?"

Rey trilled out a laugh. "I'm fine, Poe, really..."

"I just need to be sure. It is a commander's responsibility to take care of all of his troops..." His eyes flitted down tenderly towards Rey's baby bump, as if he was including the unborn baby girl in that group. "And... I care about you a lot, Rey."

For some reason, Rey felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. Was it possible...? No, it couldn't be.

But it was, as Poe suddenly took Rey's hand in his. "More than that... I love you, Rey. I admire the strength with which you attack any problem, especially this most recent development. Your bravery on Crait. And... I can tell that the subject of the baby's father leaves you in pain." He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "If it is within my power... well, it is, actually... I could take care of you. And the baby. Neither of you would want for _anything_!"

Rey blinked in utter surprise, amazed at how she had now witnessed two men offer to help parent a child that was not theirs. And to have the offer come from someone like Poe Dameron... she was extremely flattered. It would be so much easier, Rey surmised, to just let the baby be reared by someone who was not seen as a threat to the whole galaxy - a good and decent and (she had to admit) _handsome_ man who would never let anything happen to those he cared about.

But, handsome and brave as Poe was, he wasn't the man who made her feel frustrated and helpless all at once. He did not challenge her, skilled pilot though he was. He wasn't... Ben... So, gently, she took her free hand and placed it over his.

"Oh, Poe... I'm so flattered... and touched. But... I must remain faithful. I have to remain faithful to _him_." And she held his gaze with her eyes, willing him to understand.

"The father," Poe guessed. Rey nodded. Poe smiled kindly. "I understand." He rose from the bed. "Get some rest." Pecking Rey on the cheek, which she allowed, he left. Rey slowly rose out of the bed and turned to her vanity as Poe disappeared out of sight.

Scarcely had the door closed behind him, then Rey felt a shift in the air, and a deep voice - a deep voice that was most definitely _not_ Luke's - almost sang, "Well, I thought the pompous peacock would never leave. Prancing around like he owns every woman in this place - it's downright unnatural!"

Rey screamed, clasping both hands to her mouth to quiet herself as she now saw Ben Solo's reflection staring back at her in the corner of the vanity mirror.

"How did you find me?" Though she knew full well how.

"Oh, it was easy," Ben dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that. You have been unfaithful, my love. _Very_ unfaithful."

Rey ground her teeth in frustration, his words stinging like a lightsaber blade piercing her skin. How dare he suggest...! "I have _not_ been engaged in infidelity!"

"Oh, really? Then what was that display with the traitor FN-2187, slobbering his face like a lovesick puppy?"

Rey flinched, caught completely off-guard. How had he seen that? She would have sensed his presence, their Bond roaring to life. And a more important question: how _much_ had he seen?

"Or that pathetic excuse for a pilot, that airhead pecking your cheek? As if he has a chance with you! He isn't worthy enough to kiss the ground at your feet!" Ben's voice was grating, contemptuous, barely holding back a primal scream.

"At least he's _here_! And _Finn_ too!" Rey snapped, hating how Ben still referred to her friend by his Stormtrooper number, an insult to her dear friend's identity.

"Why are they hanging around you so?" Ben seethed, his voice a deadly hiss as he stepped closer, his reflection enlarging in the mirror. "Do they think you are theirs for the taking? Pathetic fools... you're _mine_!"

Rey gave a mirthless laugh. "Oh, you have made that quite clear, Ben Solo! You've laid your claim on me for sure!"

Ben blinked, not expecting the verbal parry. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about _this_ , Ben!" And Rey spun around to give him a full view of her swollen belly.

Ben's face went completely slack. Drooped, almost. Rey half-expected him to melt like a chalk mural washed away by rainwater. He couldn't speak. And then he fell to his knees at her feet. Through the Force, Rey could sense his anger shrink away, as though sucked through a vacuum.

For a long moment, neither expecting parent spoke. Then, oh so softly, Ben pressed his lips onto Rey's stomach, right over her belly button, much more pronounced since before her pregnancy. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Rey could not bring herself to be angry with him any longer, so adorably did he ask the question. "It's a girl," she beamed, whispering the answer breathlessly.

Ben blinked, and then frowned slightly. "Oh, boo!"

Rey gawked at him, even as the smile had not faded from her now open mouth. Placing her hands on her hips, she scoffed at him. "You would prefer that I bear a son?" She'd be damned if she provided him with an heir for the First Order! Plus, it was hard not to draw any misogynistic conclusions from Ben's reaction.

But Ben only smiled, and Rey was surprised to not sense a politically, or even prejudiced, ulterior motive in his thoughts. "Of course. Every man wishes to have a son. My father did, and he got his wish."

Rey smiled at him softly, remembering the gruff old man who would now be the grandfather of her child. "Well... maybe one day... I will have a son." She desperately had wanted to say _'We will have a son'_ , but her courage failed her. Still, she left the premonition hanging in the air. A tentative promise. An offering.

Ben now stood, his ungloved hands tipping, tilting her chin upwards. Those giant hands now cradled her cheeks and jawline as his lips fiercely met hers. Rey was startled by the affection, but not as much as she was by the wet tears slipping onto her face. Tears that were _his_ , not hers. She could hear the pining agony, mixed with the relief and even... joy in his voice. And a fear that she might disappear again.

"I've missed you!" he whispered into her mouth. The desperation of his physical worship did not stop. "Did... did you mean what you said? About..." Even as he could not find the words, the voice, with which to finish, Rey sensed what he wanted to ask through their Bond. The inquiry made her lips curl up into a gentle smile against his.

"Of course I meant it." And from the way Ben now took her fully in his arms and kissed her with a crippling hunger, and from the way she accepted his kiss, maybe - just maybe - that offering she had floated would come to pass after all.

* * *

That afternoon, after Ben faded from their Force connection, Rey finally willed herself to leave the confines of her chambers. Strolling the grounds of the Resistance base, caressing her baby bump all the while, she smiled whenever fellow colleagues grinned back or tipped their hats at her. Most everyone in the Resistance had accepted her condition, and were doing their best to be as understanding as possible.

But one person did not give Rey such a friendly greeting. One person was not understanding. Rey now came upon Rose Tico, sitting against a wall, her head buried between her knees as she sobbed.

"Rose?"

Rose snapped her head up and upon seeing the voice's owner, gave her a glare. "Why are you here? Bored carrying on with Finn?"

Rey blinked, thrown by the hypothesis and deeply hurt by its implications. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend you don't know! I saw how you threw yourself at him when he claimed paternity! I hope you two are happy; you deserve each other!"

Ah. So _that's_ what this was about. Rey knelt at Rose's side, as much as her pregnant stomach would allow, and carefully placed a hand on Rose's shoulder, half-expecting the technician to shrug her off. But Rose didn't. "Rose: there is nothing going on between Finn and I. _Nothing_ ," she emphasized. "He is like my big brother. He was my first friend when I had none and he cares about me. But just as a _friend_. That's all it is."

Rose chuckled derisively, shortly. "Bull. He loves you. He good as told me once. And who can blame him? How can I compete with you? You're beautiful!" And her head jerked with the slightest indication towards Rey's womb. "I bet it's always been easy for _you_."

Rey found herself laughing. " _Easy_? That's not the way I would describe it..." And she heaved herself into a sitting position beside the brown-skinned girl. "The baby isn't Finn's, Rose. He lied. He was just trying to protect me. And I was so overwhelmed when he defended me like that, I couldn't help it. He's... family to me. And... I'm in love with someone else. And that someone is the baby's father." She now nudged Rose's side, wanting to encourage her and lift her spirits, following the guesswork. Well, it wasn't guesswork - it was as plain as the nose on her face. "Go after Finn! Tell him how you feel. You have my blessing. Besides..." And Rey now failed to bite back a smile. "My baby will need a doting aunt to play with."

A shocked Rose raised her eyes to Rey's, blinking back tears. "Really?"

Rey grinned more broadly. "You can even be godmother, if you want."

The hug Rose now gave her was quite unexpected, but Rey accepted it warmly.

"I'm sorry!" Rose hiccuped. "I should never have thought that you... that you were..."

Rey just shook her head, the smile staying on her face. "Apology accepted."

Rey had never had a friend who was also a girl. But, she had a feeling that Rose would make as finest a first girlfriend as she could ever have.


	6. Chapter 6: I'll Want to Die Too

**Chapter 6: I'll Want to Die Too**

The sounds of running feet and shouting awoke Rey early one morning. Stumbling out of her chambers in nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, she followed the stampede and commotion to the main hangar bay to see what was going on.

The main blast doors were wide open, letting it light from Tatooine's harsh twin suns. Backlit in this environment was a group of Resistance fighters, holding a prisoner in ion cuffs. Strides away from them, Poe Dameron stood, looking bewildered and yet also triumphant, as if a rather unexpected Christmas present had fallen into his lap.

"Shall we take him to the brig, Commander?" one of the soldiers asked.

"No," Poe grinned. "I say we execute him immediately. Ready a firing squad. We'll do it outside - can't have blood staining the floors."

Moving closer, Rey could finally get a good look at the prisoner. When she did, her heart nearly stopped. She would know that face anywhere.

"BEN!" And she rushed forward from the crowd before anyone could stop her, pushing past Poe and flinging herself to her knees, throwing her arms around her lover's neck.

Everyone froze, absolutely stunned that the Last Jedi was showing such... kindness to the Supreme Leader. Poe took a step back, his blaster out, eyes narrowing at the sight. Rey held his gaze, her arms not leaving Ben's.

"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too!" she vowed. Her voice was deadly serious, and she knew that if Ben were to die, their Bond would likely be torn asunder, leaving her incomplete and weak. She would want to die, too. And probably would die, anyway, without Ben to balance her in the Force.

"Rey... stand back," Poe ordered.

"I WON'T!" she yelled. "I love him, Commander."

Poe nearly dropped his blaster. His eyes narrowed further, and Rey could almost see the puzzle pieces click into place. "The father," he guessed correctly, loud enough for all to hear. Cries of astonishment and horror went up as the rest of the Resistance started gossiping amongst themselves.

In the confusion, Rey suddenly called on the Force. Poe's blaster flew into her waiting hand and she promptly stuck its barrell up the roof of her mouth. Poe launched forward, hands out, pleading with her to stop. Shrieks of terror went up from everyone else.

But Rey did not move. She locked eyes with Ben, and silently communicated her wishes to him through the Bond. Even in his weakened state, Ben acted as interpreter.

"She says that she will kill herself and her child unless I am allowed to remain with them alive, unharmed... and unpunished."

Shouts of anger and protest went up from everyone. Poe blinked and peered at Ben. "How can you...?" For Rey very clearly could not have spoken to Ben, not with a mouth full of blaster.

"We can communicate each other's thoughts through the Force Bond we share," Ben explains. "And those are her wishes."

Poe's face gradually turned from red to a dark purple. He stomped his foot in frustration. He was the Commander; nobody should be able to checkmate him and get away with it. But he was boxed in... and Rey and Ben both knew it.

"Agreed," the pilot finally got out through gritted teeth. "What are your exact terms, Master Jedi?"

* * *

Rey's terms were exactly what she had laid out. Ben was to live with her and the baby in her chambers. He was to be unharmed, and any Resistance fighter who laid a hand on him was to be thoroughly investigated and court-martialed immediately. Ben Solo was to be treated as a refugee, not as a political prisoner. He was to receive no punishment. And no one beyond the base was to know the former Supreme Leader was present there.

For Ben was the _former_ Supreme Leader. Armitage Hux and the Knights of Ren had overthrown him in a violent coup - one from which Ben barely escaped with his life.

As the last months of Rey's pregnancy passed, she and Ben both prepared for the baby. Ben was very gentle with both of his girls, even showering with Rey and bathing her when it became too painful for her to reach down and scrub certain areas herself.

"Hmmm," Rey would purr in delight, enjoying Ben's attentions as his hands would cradle her baby bump, as he would plant kisses along the soft curve of her neck. "Admit it: you've been pining for me." This quickly became a regular tease between them.

Ben would only chuckle: a deep, melodious sound. "I have _not_ been pining." But his eyes, so deep and beautiful, would twinkle, betraying his true feelings.

When not alone together in her chambers, Ben helped the rest of the Resistance fight the First Order. In the first few weeks, many fighters gave him sideways glares, while others looked terrified to be in his proximity, as if afraid he might turn on them unawares. But overtime, Ben gained the trust of every single person on the base. Even Poe Dameron himself eventually granted Ben his respect.

Much of the work was to rebuild the Resistance so they could reasonably lead an assault against the First Order. Great progress was being made, but Poe was nevertheless antsy. Some days, he would stand on the desert plains of Tatooine, watching the skies and wishing he could lead an attack right this very moment. He was getting cabin fever in the extreme, and longed to be back in his X-Wing. He vented his frustrations to Rey one day, as she took walking laps around the base in the hopes she could induce labor, her stomach protruding out to her feet.

"I have half a mind to just hop in the first thing that flies and run down these bastards myself if I have to! I'm getting out, Rey!"

"Oh, Poe, don't say things like that!" Rey chided. "You know we'd all miss you."

"I can't stay here much longer, Rey! I'm ready to get off this planet!"

* * *

The next day, Poe was awoken rudely by Finn banging on his door. The former Stormtrooper had barely gasped out that Rey's water had broken and that she was in labor before Poe was sprinting to the med ward after his friend, rounding up Rose Tico on the way.

The birthing took many hours. Poe and Finn held both Rey's hands as she rested her head in Ben's lap. Rose would coach Rey on when to start pushing.

Into the evening, Rey at last gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She and Ben, the proud parents, fell instantly in love. Their friends watched on with deep, bursting pride. Not a single one of them could say they were not happy for the little family.

All at once, Lieutenant Connix stumbled into the hospital room, panting. "Commander! The First Order has entered Tatooine airspace! We're under attack!"

Ben's face went white, making it clear to anyone who might harbor any suspicions or doubt about his loyalty that he had nothing to do with the assault. "No... no, no!"

Poe sprang into panicked action. "Evacuate immediately, Lieutenant! Everyone, to the ships!"

The base came as alive as a buzzing hive, with pilots and technicians running this way and that, making for the main hangar bay and firing up anything that could get airborne. All the while, the First Order began dropping bombs around the base. The walls shook with their impact.

Pretty soon, Rose, Finn, Poe, Ben, Rey and the baby were the only ones left in the base. Rose now came dashing back from where she had checked the hangar.

"There's only one light freighter left, Commander! Everyone is gone!"

Poe snapped his eyes to Rey, still in the bed with the baby nursing at her breast. He glanced at Ben. "Can you carry her?"

Ben's cheeks were pale. "I can try." But the look on his face made it clear he did not think that was the safest idea.

But Rey frantically shook her head. "You all go. Leave me!"

" _Never_!" Ben thundered, squeezing her hand like a vice as his voice came out in a deadly hiss.

Rey began to sob as another blast rocked the base. "Ben, you have to go! Take our child! Take our child! Please... just take care of our family, Ben."

"We intend to - _whole_ family!" Poe growled with determination, clasping a hand in Rey's. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young Solo look to him with something resembling gratitude.

"I won't leave without you, Rey! I am NOT going to lose you again!" Ben vowed to his love.

"Guys..." Finn said nervously. "We're running out of time..."

Poe made a quick and painful decision. "How many can fit on the freighter?" he demanded of Rose.

"Three," she whispered. "But we could force Rey and Ben on, it would be tight..."

Poe's brain whirred one last time, desperately trying to find an alternative. At last, he said to Rey:

"Give us the child. Rose and Finn and I will take her. We won't let anything happen to her."

Rey gulped back a grateful sob and nodded. "May the Force be with you all." Then, her gaze fell to the little bundle nestled in her embrace. Her face betrayed the tenderest of smiles.

"I love you, little one. Goodbye, Kira." She kissed the baby's forehead sweetly. Then, in the biggest act of trust she had ever displayed, she handed the bundle to Poe. "Call her Kira. Let no harm come to her."

"She'll be safe with us, I promise," Poe vowed. The trio fled as Rey let out heaving, wracking sobs in Ben's arms.

The bombs were getting closer. Somewhere near, Ben could sense a battering ram being used to break down the base's main entrance. Soon, shouts could be heard, running feet as First Order troopers took the base. Soon, they would invade the med ward.

"This is it, my love," Ben murmured. He squeezed her hand. "Thank you for giving my life meaning again."

Rey held his gaze bravely. "Kiss me," she whispered.

Ben's lips descended fiercely on hers. As they kissed, First Order troopers burst into the hospital room and shot the couple on sight.

* * *

"Come on!" Poe called as he sprinted into the hangar bay, baby Kira wailing in his arms. As he and Finn and Rose sprinted across the wide empty expanse towards the last remaining freighter, a battalion of Stormtroopers began pouring in.

Finn thought fast. "Poe! Give the baby to me! Go fire up the ship!" Poe obeyed, passing Kira off and racing up the gangplank ramp. The stormtroopers opened fire, and Rose returned it with a blaster from her hip, giving Poe the cover he needed. When a small strike force of about six Stormtroopers advanced on Finn, he whipped out a vibroblade and began hacking at his former comrades. From all sides, he slashed and swiped, deflecting every blaster bolt and parrying every electric Z6 riot control baton. All the while, he kept a crying Kira close to his chest, making sure absolutely nothing hostile touched her.

But even Finn knew he could not keep this up forever and hope to get Kira away unscathed. Dispatching the six Troopers, he spun around and passed Kira off to Rose, giving his girlfriend a peck on the lips. "Get her onboard NOW!"

Rose scampered off with the baby, as Finn continued to hold off another strike wave of troopers. By now, Poe had fired up the engines and was firing the laser cannons at the rest of the battalion, keeping them cornered against the hangar entrance. Finn finally leaped onto the gangplank as the freighter began to take off.

"Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen!" Poe warned. "This is not going to be pretty!"

And gunning the thrusters, the freighter shot out of the hangar, slicing a hole through the battalion. They were barely out of Tatooine's atmosphere before Poe made the jump to hyperspace.

* * *

Ben did not know how much time had passed when he regained consciousness. He could feel the sting of several blaster bolts inside his body. In the dim light, he was horrified to find his body caked with blood. Even more unnerving was how he did not know which splatters belonged to him and which belonged to...

With a growling heave, he lifted himself up into a sitting position, then a kneeling one. Peering over the side of the hospital gurney, he saw the woman whom he considered his wife lying prone amongst the white sheets now stained in dark reds and even blacks. Rey was unresponsive. Ben reached out to the Force to feel her signature that could light up both of Tatooine's suns, so beautiful and blinding it was. He found...

Nothing.

It was as though thousands of scalpels were digging, ripping into his chest, as they excavated his heart and any semblance of humanity and goodness he had left. Rey had been the goodness in him, and now it had been violently extinguished.

Weeping bitterly, Ben bent over Rey and kissed her lips again and again, his tears deluging her upturned face. He pleaded with her to awaken, but she did not stir. Every kiss from Ben was harder, more desperate. "It's... it's me..." he begged her to stay with him.

Amazingly, the base was quiet. Surely the First Order would have just kept command of a prized outpost? But no, the deserted, chilling calm told Ben, as did the Force, that the First Order had left him and Rey for dead, probably fleeing to chase down the rest of the Resistance that had managed to get away.

Suddenly, a new, familiar presence invaded the base, sprinting down the halls. It was not long before Ben could hear a voice calling his name, and Rey's. Then -

Poe Dameron himself burst in. He nearly slipped in the blood and gore as his feet came to a sudden halt, the inertia almost making him take a spill. His eyes bugged out in horror as he took in the sight.

"Ben? You're alive? Can you...?"

Ben tried to stand, but the muscles in his legs gave out from under him, refusing to cooperate. Poe rushed forward and caught him; with little thought, the Commander hoisted the Supreme Leader over his back like the latter was a sack of potatoes.

"How... how are you still here?" Ben wheezed.

"I came back for you, hoping I could pull off a rescue."

Ben scoffed. "You're an idiot, Poe Dameron."

"I'm also saving your life, so shut up!" the pilot snapped. But Ben could see his eyes twinkling, even in the dim light. Then, Poe approached Rey. "Is she...?"

"She's gone," Ben moaned.

Poe gathered up Rey's form, bridal-style, anyway.

"All right, Dameron," Ben growled. "Get us out of here!"

* * *

It turned out that Poe had immediately turned the final freighter around after dropping off Finn and Rose on the _Falcon_ in deep space. The craft he commanded, with Ben attended to by a medical droid in the back, was a rickety one. It barely made the trip back to the fleet on its last gasps, having clearly seen better days. Poe and a healed Ben clambered aboard the _Falcon_ and joined their friends, leaving the worn-out freighter that saved them to float to its destruction amongst the stars.

Now, Chewie was piloting his prized ship, with Poe, Finn and Rose gathered around Ben in the private quarters, watching as he tried to feed a squawking and wailing baby Kira before lulling her to sleep. Poe observed it all with a crestfallen expression, his eyes heavy with dark circles under them.

"It isn't supposed to be like this..." he murmurs. "She needs her mother's milk..."

Ben let out a tired huff. "Well, we don't have that option, Poe." The Commander startled at being addressed only by his first name by the former Supreme Leader.

Ben finally managed to get Kira to eat something, and then just sat on the edge of the bed and rocked her slowly, the steady hum and sway of the _Falcon_ assisting in getting Kira to fall into a deep sleep. That task done, Ben rose and passed the swaddled bundle off to Rose, the baby's godmother, per Rey's wishes.

"I'm... going to go check on Chewie. Here. I think my child will do better in someone else's arms for now." And he staggered up towards the cockpit. Finn saw the growing redness around his eyes, the wobble in his throat, and understood. Ben needed to grieve. Slinging an arm over Rose's shoulders, he watched as she softly bounced Kira, to keep the tiny creature asleep.

Somehow, they would all have to go on.

* * *

The deep winds whistled along the grassy island plains of Ahch-To, whereupon the crest of one hill, Rey - the Last Jedi - was laid to rest in an ostentatious grave site. Her body had been meticulously clean, and she was dressed in her favorite Jakku outfit. Her hair fanned out around her head in waves, cradling her like it was a pillow. Clasped in her hands that were now resting gently over her chest, were the broken remains of the Skywalker saber. Her trusty lightsaber staff lay at her side. She looked so beautiful, like she could be sleeping.

Poe Dameron officiated with a moving eulogy, pausing after each and every phrase impressively. The drama of the moment was not lost on him, and being the charismatic leader that he was, Poe was determined to honor their fallen hero with nothing but the best praises. He was also showboating because, in his grief, he had spent the entire previous evening writing out his remarks while getting drunk. _Very_.

"Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our goodbyes... Here she lies! No one knew her worth, the late great daughter now laid in earth..." Poe's gaze now shifted to Ben Solo in the front row, holding his motherless daughter in his arms. "On this night, as we celebrate the birth... on that craggy rock called Tatooine, we raise a glass - you _bet your ass_ \- to... the Jedi Rey!"

Finn seemed to be the only one to take any offense that Poe had delivered the entire speech while inebriated. Everyone else was still mad and wracked with grief.

This grief would eventually inspire the Resistance to lead audacious, relentless assaults against the First Order. Hux and the Knights of Ren soon fell, as well as the entirety of the Order's apparatus.

After the war, Ben Solo returned to Ahch-To alone with baby Kira. There he would raise her by himself, while also rebuilding an Academy of Grey Jedi.


	7. Chapter 7: Love Makes a Family

**Chapter 7: Love Makes a Family**

The moon was high in the sky, and the only sounds that could be heard was the chirping of the Porgs and the lowing of the Thala-Sirens. Three-year-old Kira Rey Solo was nestled under the sheets of her trundle bed. Her father had built it himself, after she had grown too big to fit in the bassinet that once rocked her to sleep. Kira could hear the even breathing of her father now, as he slumbered and dreamed in the big bed just above her. After one particularly pronounced breath, Kira heard him murmur:

"Rey..." Kira knew that her Daddy dreamed of her mother a lot. The mother for whom she and her father left flowers, at her gravesite on the tallest hill of the island. The mother for whom she was partially named. The mother she had never known. Only recently had her father told her that her mother, a beautiful Jedi, had passed away just after Kira was born. He had not given any details beyond that; it was the one story her father could not bring himself to tell. And from the pain it still seemed to cause him, Kira knew better than to ask. But perhaps, once she was older, he would explain it all to her.

That was a common refrain in her still-young life. She observed and helped her father in his work, rebuilding the Grey Jedi Academy, finding and training young Padawans. But even the smallest students were all older than her by a good few years at least. Ben had always promised to teach her in the ways of the Force, the Force that flowed through her veins, but when she was old enough.

"Soon, my greatest treasure, my most wonderful gift," he would tell her. "Very soon."

Kira was no Grey Jedi, and the Force was still new to her. But she could sense that her father dreamed of her mother, and that it brought him sadness and pining. Gently, she clambered into the big bed beside him and nestled against the rise and fall of his chest, hearing his heartbeat.

" _Kira... Kira..._ "

At first, Kira thought that she had inserted her presence into her father's dreams through the Force, and that it was he who spoke her name. But, no, the voice was older. She raised her head slightly, peering into the darkness of the little hut she and her father shared.

"Here I am," she said in a tiny voice.

" _Kira... Kira..._ " And with the voice, an ethereal blue light suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, casting a dim, warm glow in the hut. Ben stirred against his little girl, but did not wake.

Kira peered at the strange intruder before her. He had a scruffy beard, like the jolly space elf she used to hear of in stories around Yuletide. But unlike that legend, this one was donned in what looked like Jedi robes. Jedi robes like the ones that her Daddy wore in his work, and that hung in his closet. The spirit's face was wrinkly and yet kind, as he beamed a warm smile down at her.

"Peace, young one. I only wish you greetings."

Kira slipped quietly from the big bed and toddled over to the spirit. A Force Ghost. She had heard her father once tell about them to his Padawans. But she never thought one would visit _her_. "Who are you?"

The spirit smiled. "Someone who shares your blood, great-niece. I am Luke Skywalker. Your father is my nephew. And I knew your mother."

Kira's eyes shone in wonderment. "You knew my mother?"

"Yes, Kira. You have her eyes. And your presence in the Force is much like hers: warm and good and pure. Let not your heart be heavy. She is with the Force, and the Force is all around us. She is here, with you, though you might not see her. And I know for a fact your mother loves you. She loves you very much."

Kira stared. _Luke Skywalker_... the legend... the Jedi Master who all her Daddy's students talked about with baited breath and wide gazes... was her... father's uncle?

Luke smiled, reading her thoughts. "And your _great_ -uncle, child. You come from a great bloodline and a prized family. Royalty within the Force. Both the Light and Dark Side are with you in perfect balance. Your parents embodied the balance of the Force, and your conception has been the final realization of the galaxy's grand designs. You, the Balance of the Force Made Flesh. Our family's legacy, our history, spans both the Light and the Dark, Sith and the Jedi. And now, we will introduce the Grey Jedi, an avatar of the Living, Unifying Force forevermore. You might feel eager to embrace this mantle now, but patience, my descendant. In time, you shall. And you will succeed where your ancestors failed - Vader and others. In time, you shall take your rightful place within the Force."

Kira's eyes filled with tears. "Master Skywalker... all I want is to make my parents proud. My family proud."

Luke nodded his head in understanding. "I know you do, little one. And you do. I am already proud of you. And so is your mother. _Our_ family is proud of you. They are all around you in the Netherworld of the Force... and also around you here in the galaxy, across the stars." The Jedi Master's gaze fell on his nephew, asleep in the bed. "Take care of your father, young Kira. Your presence, your very existence, means more to him than you can possibly imagine. You are each other's saving grace. Stay together and love each other. It will only help the Force to maintain the Balance it has sought for so long. And now I must go and join our brethren. But remember: I shall be with you. Always..."

And Luke's blue form faded away. But one residual of his visit remained on the wind, echoing as Kira snuggled up back into her bed next to her father:

 _Always..._

* * *

And as Kira nestled back into his side on the big bed, Ben Solo dreamed...

 _He was leaning against the entrance of their little stone hut, watching his wife and the love of his life rock their little girl to sleep. Nestled against her breast, the baby squealed and swatted a chubby little hand at her mother._

 _ **"Kira!"** Rey trilled out a laugh. **"Calm yourself..."** And Ben could sense her sending soothing thoughts into the infant's head through the Force. **"It's time to go to sleep..."** Rey nestled Kira into the bassinet at the foot of their bed. The Jedi Master then placed a sweet kiss on Kira's forehead. **"Sweet dreams, my angel,"** she cooed. _

_Rey's nightgown swished around her ankles as she sashayed over to the king-sized bed and pulled back the coverlet, clambering in. Ben slowly followed suit, sliding in the other side. Her back to him, Rey sensed the mattress sink as her husband joined her._

 _ **"Good night,"** she sighed happily. But Ben was not ready to go to sleep. Not by a long shot. Leaning over her, he waited until she turned her face up to acknowledge him, and he planted a chaste kiss on her lips. **"Hmm,"** Rey purred in delight, her kissed lips curving up into a smile. Ben could feel through the Force that she was pleased, and was open to another._

 _The couple kissed again, just as sweetly, but with a little more passion. Ben now pulled Rey closer and deepened a third kiss, rolling himself over so that Rey was fully on her back and he was straddling her. Ben's hands cupped his wife's breasts, kneading and squeezing the tender flesh as his lips mouthed down her neck. Rey squirmed underneath Ben with joy, but when he sent a love bite into her neck and thrusted his rapidly-swelling erection against her pelvis, she gasped._

 ** _"The... the baby..."_ **

_**"She sleeps through anything, just like her mother,"** Ben snarled, his eyes black with lust. **"I want to make love to the sexiest woman in the galaxy... Rey..."**_

 _ **"Ben..."** Rey moaned, snapping her hips up to meet his. Tenderly kissing, Rey allowed Ben to undress her of her nightgown, even as she went to work on divesting him of his sleep pants. Husband and wife began to make sweet love... _

_The scene shifted. Kira was now shrieking with delight and bouncing in a high chair, as Rey tried in vain to feed her._

 _ **"Eat up, my little princess! Yum, yum!"** Kira just twisted her mouth away from the spoon and laughed harder. Rey frowned, puzzled by her daughter's reticent eating habits. Ben now passed by, pressing a kiss to his wife's forehead._

 ** _"She inherited your appetite, my love. Doesn't need much for energy. Don't feel bad."_**

 _Rey swatted at him with a smirk, before apologetically pulling Ben's face down to hers for a long, sensuous kiss._

 _The scene shifted once more. This time, the Solo family was on the grassy hills on Ahch-To, on a sunny, beautiful spring day. Ben was grasping Kira's arms so that she could stand up on her wobbly, toddler legs. A few feet away, in a light and airy sundress, Rey gave Kira a beaming smile of encouragement and held out her arms wide to the little girl._

 ** _"Come on, sweetie! Come to Mama!"_**

 _Ben tentatively let go of Kira as she began to take unsteady steps towards her mother. One strong step, then a second... a third... a teetering fourth, and then a bobbling, lunging fifth as she tumbled into Rey's embrace. Rey picked Kira up with a squeal and cuddled the child close._

 ** _"You did it, baby! Mama is so proud of you!"_**

 _Ben laughed as he enveloped his girls in a bigger hug, beaming down with pride at his family._

When Ben stirred awake, he was relieved to find his bed full with Kira under the crook of his arm. But all the same, he was crestfallen that Rey was not snuggled up with them, and never would be.

* * *

It was a peaceful night on the island planet of Ahch-To. The winds were unusually gentle this evening, and no rainy squalls were to be had, as Ben Solo ate a meager dinner with his five-year-old daughter, Kira Rey Solo. The older Padawans were already in bed in the other huts ringing the Academy, obeying a strict curfew, especially during the winter months.

"You almost finished, baby?" Ben asked his daughter.

"Yes, Daddy," she chirped.

"Good girl." Ben reached across the table to brush a strand of her long chestnut-brown hair from her face. His paw of a hand lingered against her cheek, as he beamed at her with deep love. The sheer power of his affection for this little perfect creature was almost overwhelming, a wave that hit him all at once, almost as if he was discovering it for the first time. He turned his face away, his eyes welling up with tears that he did not want his daughter to see, his throat clogging up with a sob that he fought to tamper down. It was hard to believe that he had once wished for a son, as he thought back to that moment when Rey had first told him she was pregnant, that she was carrying his baby. The memory of their arguing over preferences for their child's gender made him smile sadly now, even as he felt a pang of regret at his own stance. How foolish he had been! Now, he could not imagine _not_ parenting this little girl, not having Kira in his life. _Thank the Maker your mama gave you to me, left you here with me..._ he thought. Losing Rey had left him very vulnerable to being sucked back into the Dark Side's web, and without Kira... Ben felt he would have definitely toppled over its edge, with no hope of returning this time. If he could not have his precious Rey, he at least had a piece of her to remember her by. A piece of _them..._ each of them. Though in his opinion, Kira resembled her mother much more than she did him, and this notion made him swellingly proud, almost smug.

All at once, there was a knock on the hut's wooden door. Ben frowned. "Now, who could that be?... If it's Temiri with a false alarm guard report again..." Temiri, one of the younger Padawans, often took guard duty on the evening shift, meditating and keeping a look-out for unwelcome aircraft, up on the high ridge where, Ben had learned, his wife had sliced a rock in half with Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber.

But instead, Ben opened the door to find a group of two men, one woman and a Wookie on his doorstep. Upon seeing him, they raised bottles of champagne and other consumable contraband with a cheer. "Hey!"

Poe Dameron's face fell once he saw the blank, surprised one Ben sent back at him. "You forgot," he guessed. It was a statement, not a question.

And indeed he had. Tonight was Ben's 35th birthday. Poe had sent him a hologram offering to throw the young Solo a party weeks ago. Between caring for his daughter and teaching his Padawans, the Grey Jedi Master had let thought of the celebration fall completely out of his head. Giving his friends a soft smile, Ben jerked his head back towards the hut. "Come on in," he murmured quietly.

Kira was happy to see her Uncles Poe, Finn and Chewie, and her Auntie Rose. The little girl happily waved a carrot around. "Daddy is having me eat all my vegetables!" she reported to her relatives. Then she held the carrot stick out to Rose. "Try this one, Auntie," she offered. "It's yummy!"

The group stayed up, talking and laughing about old times. Many of these stories - which came with sad sighs and wistful smiles - revolved around Rey, which Kira eagerly sat through, wanting to hear every little detail about her mother. At last, the little girl yawned.

"Bedtime, young lady," Ben ordered. Kira got up and circled the table, kissing each of her family members.

"Goodnight, Uncle Finn."

"Goodnight, mini-Rey."

"Goodnight, Uncle Poe."

"Goodnight, my darling."

"Goodnight, Uncle Chewie."

"RAWWR!"

"Goodnight, Auntie Rose."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

"Goodnight, baby."

And Kira scampered off to bed. Ben watched her go with a tender smile. "Her mother could be docile when she wanted to be too, Maker rest her soul."

The adults stayed up and continued to chat and celebrate. Outside the warm glows of the hut, none of them were aware that someone was watching them. A spirit, a Force Ghost, looking down on them proudly.

"I love my little family," Rey sighed happily, content to know that they all were safe, and that Kira was being raised by people who loved her, who loved her just as much as Rey did.

"Yeah, you sure built up a motley crew for yourself, sweetheart."

Rey turned back to see the spirit of Han Solo watching the scene with her. He still maintained his classic persona that had made him a legend in his own right when he was alive: gruff, but lovably so. And despite his insistence, once upon a time, that the Jedi and the Force were nothing more than a hokey religion, his son's, wife's and brother-in-law's connections to the energy field had gradually made him rethink his views. Rey recalled his words to her on the _Falcon_ , the first time they met: _Crazy thing is, it's true. All of it. The Force. The Dark Side. The Jedi. They're real._ Yes, even Han Solo had been made to concede that there indeed existed a higher power. So much so, that when Luke had once offered to help his old friend become one with the Force, Han had actually jumped at the chance. A wise decision, on his part, as he could still remain with his family, even after death. It was a rarity, for non-Force-sensitive beings to attain immortality, resurrection, in the world beyond, but Han had spent a lifetime proving himself worthy - warts and all. Marrying into a prominent Jedi family had only helped. Upon becoming one with the Force, Rey had been overjoyed to see the _Falcon_ 's greatest pilot. Reuniting with him, she confessed that she had carried Ben Solo's baby and brought forth for Han a grandchild. And also voiced her belief that she felt herself as good as a Solo, as good as family, in her eyes. At least, if Han and Leia would have her. She needn't have doubted that they would.

The old smuggler now gave a smirk and a jerk of his head. "Come, my daughter. Leia is waiting for us."

And together, father-in-law and daughter-in-law went back into the Netherworld of the Force to join the rest of the Skywalker-Solo family.


End file.
